Ocean Of Sound | Maria W Horn / Croatian Amor

Lo! The Dim Shadows of the Night is a piece by Maria W Horn for vocal duo and electroacoustic sound, originally composed for the spatial MONOM 4DSOUND-system. Continuing the work started in her 2020 piece Dies Irae, Maria uses a modified form of traditional tonal harmonic language to invoke an uncanny middle ground between the classical western polyphonic vocal tradition and contemporary electronic music.

The piece uses a mixture of algorithmically generated synthesis, created within the SuperCollider framework, and nighttime recordings of the Night Jar bird made in Skuleskogen in Marias home-region in Västernorrland, Sweden. The piece is sung by Ansis Bētiņš and Artūrs Čukurs from Riga, Latvia. The text is based on fragments from the hymn Ecce iam noctis.

In addition to the fixed electronic components of the music and the live vocal performance by Bētiņš and Čukurs, Maria joins the ensemble herself playing spatially processed pitched glasses, adding a ghostly shade to the dominant role of the human voices.

Ecce iam noctis tenuatur umbra
lucis aurora rutilans coruscat;

LO! the dim shadows of the night are waning;
radiantly glowing, dawn of day returneth;

Composition: Maria W Horn | Voice: Ansis Bētiņš | Voice: Artūrs Čukurs | Spatialized & produced by Monom Studios, commissioned by STUK - House for Dance, Image & Sound for Ocean Of Sound 2023 | In the context of: New Horizons | Dieric Bouts Festival, an initiative of KU[N]ST Leuven | Special thanks to: Swamp Booking

Croatian Amor is a Danish electronic music composer. He created this 4DSOUND piece for the opening of Monom Studios in Berlin in 2017.

“I was invited to create the piece for the opening of Monom at Funkhaus, in Berlin. I remember it was very cold in the space, the heating had not been installed yet. Casimir Geelhoed and William Russell helped me and we wore all our clothes and worked long days and nights getting ready for the opening. Sometimes we had Wine. It was a thrilling experience to work with sound in this way, life like. The piece was inspired by reading Michel Serres "Angels: A Modern Myth" and by the city of Berlin, where i had found myself for an extended period the year before. It takes shape as a repeated conversation and explore how words change character according to their surroundings.” - Croatian Amor

Composition: Croatian Amor | Spatialized at Monom Studios with William Russell and Casimir Geelhoed | Length: 42’

The venue (Studio) is located on the fourth floor in STUK but is easily accessible by elevator.